Luo Yunxi, trailing behind Feng Moxi, said coldly, "If you don't want to talk, then don't. All this whimpering is just annoying." It was only then that she realized crying was the most useless thing in the Apocalypse.
It was even repulsive.
The three girls clearly understood the situation and quickly stopped crying. One of them, after a few sobs, sidled up to Luo Yunxi and whispered, "It's nothing but monsters outside. Xiao Lian and the others... they're all dead. We barely made it back, and then… *sob sob*..."
With that, she covered her face and started to weep quietly again.
Just as Feng Moxi and her group had expected, a few unarmed girls who only knew how to cry were never going to get very far.
Besides, the only path to the outside world was perilous. There was no getting out without a bloody fight.
The commotion of their arrival had long since alerted the people upstairs. Suddenly, seven or eight men burst out onto the second-floor landing. They stood there looking utterly menacing, each one holding a weapon.
"What are you looking at? Never seen a handsome guy before? Keep looking and I'll gouge your eyes out."
The man named Chaoyang leaped onto a chair. His expression remained fearless, his eyes arrogant as he stared at the men on the stairs. He looked down on them—not physically, of course, but with an air of superiority that defied his lower vantage point.
Feng Moxi's composure almost cracked. 'A complete lunatic!' she thought.
Sure enough, his flippant remarks immediately angered the men.
A pot-bellied man swaggered out from the middle of their group. His shirt was unbuttoned, exposing a massive paunch. Seeing the size of the opposing party, he tempered his displeasure and spoke with a semblance of courtesy.
"Where are you folks from? Since you've entered our territory, you'll follow our rules. The second floor and above are off-limits."
"Pah!" Chaoyang spat before shouting, "Shut your mouth, you ugly freak! Just looking at you is killing my appetite. Scram, if you know what's good for you."
At this point, even He Ping was thinking the guy was a psycho.
Meanwhile, Chaoyang's companions just watched the drama unfold, not saying a word.
Feng Moxi's pulse quickened. 'A fight's about to break out!'
"You're courting death!" As expected, the fat man flew into a rage. He clenched his fingers, and an egg-sized Fireball materialized in his palm.
BANG!
A gunshot rang out. A small, bloody hole appeared right in the center of the fat man's forehead, blood trickling down his face.
Before he could even launch the Fireball, one of Chaoyang's black-clad bodyguards had pulled a gun and taken him out.
The fat man's eyes widened in disbelief before he collapsed onto the landing with a heavy thud, dying with his eyes wide open.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. Everyone was too stunned to react.
He Ping quietly tugged on Wan Yong and the others, and they slowly backed away, putting some distance between themselves and Chaoyang's group.
"Hey, Little Xuezi, you're a bit too hot-headed. Killing people at the drop of a hat isn't a great habit," Chaoyang said. Despite his chiding words, he wore the lazy expression of someone enjoying the show.
It was as if his subordinate had just put down a dog, not killed a man.
The man in black slowly holstered his pistol, his expression still completely blank.
Feng Moxi was now certain: these people were psychopaths. She'd have to keep her distance from them from now on.
Seeing the fat man fall, the rest of his crew on the stairs turned and fled upstairs.
A moment later, a series of THUDS could be heard, followed by a flurry of footsteps outside, which then faded away.
Feng Moxi couldn't help but crane her neck to look outside.
"Don't bother looking. They all jumped out a window and ran off."
Chaoyang's punchable voice chimed in again.
The guy really did love to stir up trouble for his own entertainment. After a long night on the run, Feng Moxi had no energy left to deal with a bunch of lunatics. She headed quickly for the stairs. She and Luo Yunxi needed a quiet, sealed room for Cultivation. In the Apocalypse, strength was simply too important, especially when you ran into lunatics who had the power to back up their arrogance.
Sima Yue also frowned slightly. He skirted around the others, stepped over the grotesque corpse, and followed Chaoyang upstairs, completely ignoring the onlookers and the body on the floor.
Unable to take the shock, Wan Yong and the others stayed behind in the main hall, determined to keep their distance from Chaoyang's crew.
Once the hall grew quiet and the "evil men" had left, the three girls looked at the only woman in He Ping's group and started sobbing again.
The woman, startled, quickly backed away.
He Ping frowned and said coldly, "All of you, stop crying. It's too damn loud."
The three girls didn't dare to cry loudly, so they just covered their faces and wept quietly.
Now, even Wan Yong and his men were growing impatient. They were already on edge, not to mention exhausted. Who had the patience to listen to such grating noise?
So he roared in a rough voice, "Get lost! Don't block the way! I've been busting my ass all night, and you're just gonna stand there f*cking whining endlessly?"
The three girls flinched. They cast a helpless glance at the bewildered woman from He Ping's group, but seeing no hope there, they timidly retreated to a corner.
When Feng Moxi reached the second floor, she went straight to the room nearest the window. The moment she pushed the door open, she heard quiet sobbing from within.
Inside, a completely naked woman cowered in a corner. Her head was bowed low, and a curtain of disheveled hair hid her face. She was trembling uncontrollably, and a nauseating stench filled the room.
Hearing the sound of someone entering, she timidly peeked out from behind her hair.
It was the last of the girls who had escaped from the basement.
'I never would have thought…'
Luo Yunxi, who was right behind her, saw the scene, quickly covered her eyes, and dragged Feng Moxi back out of the room.
When she turned around, she saw that man, Chaoyang, giving them a sidelong glance, a mocking smirk playing on his lips as if he were enjoying the show.
'This guy…' Feng Moxi's hands itched. He was just begging for a punch.
'The moment that pot-bellied man appeared, Chaoyang had pegged him as a bad guy and had him eliminated, clean and simple. The methods were crude but effective, but his smug attitude was just infuriating.'
Seeing Feng Moxi looking his way, he theatrically pinched his nose with a look of disgust. "Hey, you're practically made of dirt. You really can't feel it?"
Feng Moxi was speechless. 'We were in the same car on the way here,' she thought, 'he didn't seem to mind then.'
But she was already used to his annoying tone. Her expression remained impassive. "At least it's better than being some greased-up pretty boy." With that, she turned and walked into the second bedroom.
Luo Yunxi hurried in after her.
Chaoyang turned to Sima Yue. "Cousin, was she calling me a pretty boy?"
Sima Yue, his expression as deadpan as ever, walked straight into another bedroom without a word.
Chaoyang shrugged. "And I hate zombie-faces and cold expressions the most!"
Once inside the bedroom, the two women finally got a good look at each other. They were covered in filth, their hair a complete mess, and a simple shake would send clouds of dust billowing down.